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In plenaries and visits with legislators, breakouts on driver’s cards for immigrants and parole for prisoners caught in a bureaucratic Catch-22, outrage was the word many used at United for Justice Madison Action Day.

All present focused on advocating for a better budget for Wisconsin – but news from Baltimore was on the minds of many. Hannah Rosenthal of Milwaukee Jewish Federation framed the day of advocating for social justice by noting that failing to address poverty in the state and inaction on criminal justice were an outrage. Rev. Everett Mitchell of Christ the Solid Rock Baptist Church in Madison called out the right of everyone present – white, black and all people – to protest in search of justice.

Wisconsin has 33 state senators. Constituents from every district but 3 turned out for the event, sponsored by WISDOM and 8 state faith groups and held every two years. More than 800 people met, marched, and spent the afternoon speaking with legislators in Wisconsin’s capital Wednesday. (News coverage by Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel here).

The emphasis was on advancing the 11x15 criminal justice campaign for wholesale reform and smarter spending on corrections in the state, as well as passing driver’s cards for the undocumented and supporting transit statewide.

The state Legislature would approve driver’s cards if the state Assembly and Senate leadership let members vote on the issue, organizers said.